Ashley Cole has been charged by the Football Association with conduct which was "improper and/or brought the game into disrepute", the governing body has confirmed.

The Chelsea left-back called the FA a "bunch of twats" on Twitter in a hashtag after he was accused of being an unreliable witness in his statement supporting John Terry's defence against the charge he racially abused Anton Ferdinand.

The charge by his country comes two days after confirmation by the Chelsea manager, Roberto Di Matteo, that Cole would be punished by his club.

"We've got a social media policy at the club and there's going to be a disciplinary process – action – against the tweet and that's how I'll leave it," the Italian said.

"The image of the club is very important to us of course. We have rules, and anybody who breaks the rules faces disciplinary action against them. We strive to have high standards and hopefully, going forward, we can be better at showing those."